10 teachers win CitiSuccess awards

10 teachers win CitiSuccess awards

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For Sudarno, a biology teacher, winning a Rp 5 million award from
the CitiSuccess Fund was the icing on the cake of a long teaching
career spent trying to encourage his students to actively
participate in the educational process.

Launched in May 2004, the CitiSuccess Fund has so far provided
a total of Rp 665 million to 133 teachers to encourage them to
come up with fun and creative study activities for their
students. It is part of the Citibank Peka community program, run
in association with the Indonesian Institute of Hope.

Nine more teachers were awarded CitiSuccess Fund grants of Rp
5 million each on Thursday for coming up with the best creative
teaching programs.

Jangan Buta Hanya Karena Cinta (Don't go blind over love) was
the title of the program Sudarno entered in the competition.

"I chose the name Jangan Buta Karena Cinta because many
teenagers are blinded by love and fall into the drugs and AIDS
traps," he said.

Sudarno is also active in the Pelita Indonesia Foundation, a
non-governmental organization that has given him extensive
knowledge and experience of youth, drugs and AIDS issues

He said the program directly involved 40 randomly chosen
students, as well as physical education and counseling teachers
as they were considered the teachers who were closest to the
students.

"The program focuses on educating students about HIV and drugs
through informal discussions that promote interaction between
educators and students," said Mochammad Yasin, the principal of
the YMIK senior high school in South Jakarta, where Sudarno
teaches and developed his program.

"He (Sudarno) is very close to the students and teaches them
using jokes and games to get their attention. On the last day of
the four-day program, the students were posted at railway
stations to hand out red ribbons to the public while providing
them with AIDS prevention information," Yasin added.

The 10 teachers who received awards were judged based on the
level of interaction between them and their students during the
educational process, how the program could enrich the knowledge
of students and how students and teachers reflected on program
activities.

"We selected 10 of the best programs, which we and the judges
considered to be the most creative, meaning they showed how
capable the teachers were in creating interactive study
sessions," said Citigroup Indonesian Corporate Affairs head Ditta
Amahorseya.

The schools in which the 10 winning teachers work also
received Rp 10 million each to support their educational work.

Ten runners-up were granted Rp 1 million each for
participating in the creation of fun and creative study
activities for their students.

Meanwhile, Henny Supolo, an education observer and one of the
judges, said, "The education process should produce a well-
rounded person who is capable of facing a world that is full of
challenges and is rapidly changing. The old paradigm that regards
the teacher as being everything and that students should only sit
passively in class is now considered irrelevant".

Regional director of Hope Indonesia, Charles Ham, said the
number of participants as well as the quality of the proposals
submitted during the competition showed that Indonesian teachers
had the capability and drive to achieve progress. (005)

10 winners of best creative teaching awards

No. City Teacher School

1 Jakarta Sudarno SMA YMIK 1 South Jakarta

2 Jakarta Cecep Kurnia Sogoz SMA Islam Al Azhar 4 Bekasi

3 Jakarta Johan Effendi SMAN 17 West Jakarta

4 Bandung Dewi Listia SMA Pasundan 5

5 Bandung Lucia Rina Widiastuti SMA St. Aloysius

6 Semarang Evi S. Handayani SMA Nusa Bhakti

7 Semarang Yusdaim SMA Islam Hidayatullah

8 Surabaya Hirman Pramono SMAN 16

9 Surabaya Supri Harwanto SMA Kawung 2

10 Surabaya Maria Rosalia Retnowati SMA Santa Maria